AWAY and POST attracted pre-earnings trades, while RAD calls were hot as the stock hit new highs
The Dow took a spill -- its fourth straight -- as Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) losses weighed on the index. Across all 12 options exchanges today, 7.25 million calls crossed, versus 5.72 million puts. The day's put/call volume ratio ended at 0.78.
On the put side, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) contracts traded at seven times the normal rate, with much of the action transpiring as part of a calendar spread in the August and September series. HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY) put volume ran at 23 times the normal pace, as traders placed eleventh-hour bets ahead of earnings tonight. ITT Educational Services, Inc. (NYSE:ESI) put volume ended 19 times higher than normal, as a speculator initiated a credit spread in the October series. Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) put volume was 14 times higher than expected, with almost all of the volume crossing at the September 35 put.
Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD) calls crossed at three times the typical pace, as the stock hit 14-year highs. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) calls changed hands at 11 times the average rate, after the European Union approved its $15 billion purchase of Hospira, Inc. (NYSE:HSP). Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) calls traded at five times the normal pace, and Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) call volume finished 388 times higher than normal, with earnings due out Thursday night.
